Method and apparatus for making pile fabrics



Oct. 17, 1933.

H. L. SHUTTLEWORTH I METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE' FABRICS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 30. 1932 mm; ura- ATTORNEYS Oct. 17, 1933- H. L. SHUTTLEWORTH 1,931,092

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING FILE FABRICS Filed Jan. 30, 1:32 2 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR llon'ara L .ffizlfflworf r ATTORN EYS Patented Oct. 17, 1933 Q UNITED STATES METHOD AND APPARATUS FQR AKING' PILE FABRICS Howard L. Shuttleworth, AmsterdamyN. 1 assignor to Mohawk Carpet Mills, 1110.,

Amsterdam, N. Y., acorporation of NewYork Application January 30, 1932.

12' Claims.

This invention relates to the weavingof pile fabrics such as those of the Axminster type in which pile tufts are produced during the weaving operation by drawing pile yarns from supplies, inserting them into the fabric to form tufts, and cutting the tufts to proper length. More par ticularly, the present invention is concerned with a novel method of handling the pile yarns and incorporating them into the fabric, and with aparatus by which this method may be advantageously put into practice, the'utilization of the -principles of the. invention making it possible tube frame is brought into a position above the fabric being woven; it is picked up by transfer means and presented to the fabric. Whenthe tube frame with" its spools is first placed in the chains, the correct amount of yarn to form 'a tuft is drawnv through each of the separate tubes of the frame, and upon presentation of the frame with the spools to the fabric, the projecting yarn ends are passed between the warp threads, the is opened up, and a shot of weft is laid by the needle. When the latter retracts and the reed beats up the shot, the inserted tuft yarns are secured between the last shot and the one previously inserted. The tube frame is then moved by the transfer mechanism to draw from the yarn supplies the lengthof yarn required for the next tuft and thereafter, the comb is raised to turn thefree end of each strand of tints. The tube frame is now replaced on the mitted for the drawing off of the proper length of yarn from the spools to form the succeeding row of tufts is necessarily limited and, when the loom is speeded up, the yarns are drawn Serial No; 589,778

from the spools with a jerky motion rather than with a slowsteady pull. Since the yarns are held in the fabric at that time only by the weft shot andby the reed'and are thus not tightly secured, there is a danger that the drawing off of the yarn from the supplies will cause the inserted yarn to be partially pulled out of the fabric and this results in a variation of the length of the tufts.

It is the common practice in such looms to provide brakes on the yarn spools. intended to prevent accidental rotation of the spools while their frames are passing through the circuit of the chains, but such brakes necessarily apply only a light drag to the spools so as not to interfere with the yarn being drawntherefrom at the proper time. suchibrakes are therefore not fully effective to preventaccidental rotation of the spools while the tube frame in which they are mounted is'traveling along with the chains and the result i's'that the brakes dov not afford the proper degree 'of control of the spools and unsatisfactory fabrics are produced. This diffi-, culty cannot be overcome byincreasing the 'efiecq tiveness of the brakes because if the'brakes are adjusted to make certain that there will be no accidental rotation of the spools, the brakes are likely to'overcome the holding power of the weft and reed "so that in'thedrawing off of the yarn, the properlengthof yarn is not drawn from the spools and the yarn inserted in the fabric is partially pulled out. In either case, a defect in the fabric occurs. I

A further'disadvantage in the use of such brakes is that there are ordinarily. several hundred tube frames on the chain, each having its own set of brakes and it is imposible as a practical matter to insure that the brakes will operate with the same degree of effectiveness. Unless the action is fairly uniform, a variation in the length of the tufts is liable to occur.

The present invention isv accordingly directed to the provision of a method and apparatus for handling pile yarns by which the yarns are drawn from the supplies in an operation wholly independent from that of inserting the yarns in the fabric. As a consequence, the feeding opera-,- tion can be performed over a greater period of time than that now available and the yarns can be drawn from the spools under a uniform steady tension. Also in the new method, the yarns'are under complete control during the drawing off operation so that a predetermined length of yarn is withdrawn from each spool under all conditions, and since the drawing off in no way depends upon theholding of the yarns by a weft shot and the reed, the exact length of yarn required may be presented for each row of tufts and the tufts are all uniform.

In one form of the new apparatus, the yarns are carried on. spools in the usual tube framesv mounted on chains and as the frames are advanced toward the transfer means, they come to rest successively at a point at which means are provided for positively gripping the ends of the yarn projecting from the tubes and drawing out these yarns to the proper length for the formation of tufts against the action of the friction brakes. When this operation is completed, the frame is advanced towardthe weaving point and the drawn off lengths of yarn are then inserted in the fabric in any convenient, manner. For example, the tube frame may be removed from its transporting chains by the transfer mechanism and dipped into the warp in the usual way.

The drawn oif lengths of pile yarn are t introduced between the warp threads in position to be engaged by weft shots and after the yarns are held by a weft shotfthey are severed from the supplies and the tube frame is restoredto the transporting chains by the transfer mechanism and carried along with the chains.

Instead ofinserting the drawn off lengths of yarn by dipping the tube frames into the warp, it will be apparent that the lengths may be inserted by well known gripper mechanism. In this event, the lengths of yarn drawn off in the preliminary operation are severed immediately upon their being seized by'the grippers which are to introduce them into the fabric.

With this arrangement, it will be evident that the pulling of the yarns from the spool or-spools in a frame maybe carried on throughout the period during which the several operations of inserting the yarns in the fabric, laying a shot of weft, beating up the shot, and completing the tufts by means of the combtakexplace, whereas in the prior methods, the pulling of the yarns from the spools to provide a sumcientlengthfor the formation of the next tuft had. to beaccomplished in only a small fraction of the time interval mentioned. With the new method, therefore, the yarns may be drawn from the spools with a relatively slow uniform movement, and, since the yarns may be gripped by strong holding means during the operation of pulling them off, friction brakes may be employed which are of sufficient effectiveness to prevent, over-running of the spools as well as accidental rotation.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings illustrating one form of apparatus which may be advantageously used in the practice of the new method. In these drawings, Fig. tie a side View of a loom including the apparatus for prace ticing the method, certain standard parts of the 100211 being illustrated conventionally or omitted; Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation and partly in section showing certain features of the new apparatus; I

Figs. 3 and 4 are views similar toFig. 2 showing the apparatus in the positions which it assumes at.

successive stages of its operation; and

Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 2 showing a modified form of the mechanism. q

By way of making clear the practice of the new method'and theconstruction of the apparatus used in connection therewith, I have illustrated in the drawings an application of the principles of the invention in a form suitable for use with an ordinary Axminster loom having certain changes and additions. This loom comprises the frame is having heddles 11 controlling the warp threads 12, the weft shots being inserted by means of the usual needle not illustrated.

The yarns whichare to be inserted in the fabric for the production of the pile are carried on spools in tube frames 13 mounted on chains 14 which are. advanced by a step by step motion to bring the frames successively to weaving position. As each frame reaches that position, it is picked up by a transfer mechanism including the arm 15 moved toward the warp, the ends of the yarns projecting through the tubes of the frame passing between the warp threads in the usual way. A

shot of weft is then inserted by the needle and beaten up by the reed, the comb is raised to loop the free ends of the yarns around the shot, and the yarns are cut from their supplies. The transfer mechanism then restores the frame to the chains and the latter advance by one step to bring the next tube into position to be transferred.

nism must be rapid, the yarns are likely either to be'pulled out of the fabric or else, if the friction brakes on the spools are not sufficiently strong, the spools may overrun and too great a length of yarn may be unwound therefrom.

In the loom constructed in accordance with my invention, the lengths of yarn required for the formation of a tuft are drawn from the spools in an'operation independent of the insertion of the yarns'in the fabric and, for this purpose, the loom is provided with a gripping and pulling device generally designated '19, to which the frames are presented successively, preferably, just before they reach the transfer mechanism.

The gripping and pulling device may be conveniently mounted on the loom frame 20 and the 7 device is operated by an arm 21 connected by a link 22 with one arm of a bell crank lever 23 pivoted on a bracket 24 extending from the frame. 20. The other arm of the bell crank is connected by a link 25 to a lever 26 pivotally mounted on a bracket 2'7 and having a roller 28 bearing on'the arm 21 at the appropriate times.

The arm 21 is fast on a shaft 30 loosely mounted in a bracket 31 projecting downwardly from the frame 20 and the shaft projects through the bracket and on the other side of the latter carries an arm 32 which is fast thereon. The free end of the arm 32 carries a gripping jaw83 which. cooperates with a similarjaw 3e on one end of a bell crank lever 35 pivoted at 36 on the arm 32. Normally the gripping jaws 33 and as are kept open by a spring 3'! which is connected at one end to a lever 35 near the jaw 34 and at its other end to the arm 32, a stop pin 38 on the arm limiting the movement of the lever 35. The gripping jaws provide a means for gripping the ends a of pile yarns projecting through the tubes of The bell crank lever 35 isopened and closed by 11'4" (Iii means of an arm 40 pivoted at 41 in bracket 31 below the shaft 30, and arm 40 carries a gear segment 42 at its upper end which meshes with a similar segment 43 on the lower end of arm 21. In the free end of arm 40'is mounted an adjustable contact block 44 in position to engage the upstanding arm of bell crank lever 35 and cause movement of thelatter. Mounted on the arm 32 on pivot 46 is a lever 47, one end of which acts as a detent and cooperates with a lug 48 on lever 35 to hold that lever with the. gripping jaws in engagement. The other armof lever 47 is acted upon by a spring 49 which is seated against a projection 50 on the arm 32, the spring tending to rock the lever 4'? to cause its detent end to engage the lug 48.

Mechanism is provided for releasing. the jaws at the proper time and for this purpose, the bracket31 is provided with an extension 51in which is formed a slot 52 containing a pin 53 adjustable lengthwise of the slot to any desired position. When the arm 32 swings clockwise during the operation of the device, eventually the upper end of lever 47 contacts with pin 53 and is held thereby so that further movement of the arm 32 causes the lever 47 to swing and free its detent end from the lug 48, whereupon spring. 37 moves the lever 35 to open the gripping jaws. The position of the pin 53 in the slot determines the point in the swinging movement of arm 32 at which the gripping jaws will be opened and, since the jaws when closed are pulling yarn from the spools, the position of the pin determines the length of the yarn that will be pulled off in each operation of the device.

In the operation of the mechanism, the tube frame chains advance with a step by step movement and at each period of rest in that movement a frame 13 is presented to the gripping and pulling device. jects from each tube on the frame at that time and as the frame comes to rest, the arm 32 is then advancing toward .the frame. This movement of arm 32 is caused by arm 21 swinging ina counter-clockwise direction and, as arm 21 moves, shaft and gear segment 43 have a simi lar movement. Segment 43 causes segment 42 to move clockwise so that arm 40 approaches the arm 45 of bell crank lever 35. -As the movement of arm 32 proceeds, the jaws 33 and 34 in open condition receive the ends of the yarns from frame 13 between them, and at about this time,

5 crank lever caused by engagement of arm with the arm 45. When the jaws are closed, jaw 33 is held in this position by the pawl 47 which has engaged behind the stop lug 48, and when arm 32 begins to move clockwise and arms 40 and separate, the jaws continue closed. The parts now have the relative positionsshown in Fig. 2.

The arm 32 is now swung clockwise by means of arm 21 and the driving mechanism therefor and the yarn ends are pulled through the tubes, the parts of the device having the positions illustrated in Fig. 3 at the start of this pulling move ment. When the arm 32 is swung to the extent necessary to pull the desired lengths of yarn from the spools, the tail of lever 47 engages the pin 53 and this frees the detent end of lever 47 fromlug 48 and permits the lever 35 to be swung to open position by spring 37, as illustrated in Fig. 4. The ends of the yarn are thus freed from the gripping jaws and the chains begin to advance through the next step. While the chains are Only a short length ,of yarn pro-- from thenext frame, and as soon. as the ends are received between the jaws,'the latter close'and the cycle of operations is repeated. J In Fig. 5, there is illustrated a modified form of gripping and pulling device in which the bell crank lever 35 carrying grippingjaw 34 is actuated to closing position by means of a fixed block 49 engaging the end 45 of the lever; i The action of the device is generally similar to that illustrated in the other figures of'thedrawings except that, since the block 49 is stationary, the closing movement of the jaws depends on movement of arm 32. relative to block.49 and, therefore, the closing action is not quite asrapid as in the first construction described. The form of the gripping and pulling device shown in Fig. 5 is satisfactory for manypurposes but cannot be used in connection with looms of as a high a speed as the first form of the apparatus. I

When the new gripping and pulling device is employed, it will be apparent that the operation of the transfer mechanism can be considerably changed, since no movement of the transferl'arm is required to pull out the yarns for the next succeeding row of tufts. The arm now causes .the tube frame to dip into'the shed only for the purpose of inserting the ends of the yarns and no controlled retractile movement of the, arm for the purpose of pullingoutthe yarns for the next row of tufts is required. Also, the, drawing off of lengths of yarn sufiicient for the tufts in no way depends on the holding of the inserted yarns by a weft shot and a reed and a much greater 1 period of time is permitted for the drawing off of the yarns. As a consequence, the drawing off movement may be carried on at a comparatively slow speed and with a slow uniform action and since the yarns are positively gripped when .being pulled off, no variation in the lengths of the tufts is likely to'occur and there is no danger of the tufts being pulled back out of the fabric. stronger brakes may be used on the spools and accidental rotation of the spools or'overrunning is thus prevented.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: l l

1. A method of weaving pile fabrics, which comprises drawing from yarn supplies in a preliminary operation lengths of yarn suitable for insertion in a fabric to produce pile tufts of the desired height, advancing said supplies toward the weaving point while said lengths of yarn remain attached to said supplies, inserting said lengths of yarn in the'fabric duringthe weaving thereof, and severing said inserted lengths from said supplies.

2. A method of weaving pile fabrics, which comprises drawing off from yarn supplies in a preliminary operation lengths of yarns suitable for insertion in the fabric to produce pile tufts of the desired height, advancing said supplies to the weaving point with said lengths of yarn at tached to. said supplies, moving said supplies toward the fabric to insert saidlengths of yarn in the fabric, and severing said inserted lengths of yarn from said supplies. Y j

3. A loom for weaving pile fabrics, which com-v prises means for weaving a fabric, a plurality of carriers for supplying lengths of pile yarn to the fabric being woven, means for advancing the carriers with a step by step movement toward the weaving point, means for drawing from said sup plies in a preliminary operation lengths of yarn suitable for insertion in the fabric to produce pile tufts of the desired height, means for moving said carriers toward the fabric to cause said lengths of yarn to be inserted between the warp threads of the fabric, and means for severing said inserted lengths of yarn from said supplies.

4. A loom for weaving pile fabrics, which comprises means for weaving a fabric, a plurality of carriers for supplying lengths of pile yarn to the fabric being woven, means for advancing the carriers successively toward the weaving point, means including a gripper for gripping the yarns ona carrier and drawing off lengths suitable for insertion in the fabric toproduce pile tufts of the desired height, said means acting on the yarns in carriers at a distance from said weaving'point, means for moving said carriers to cause said lengths of yarn'to be inserted in the fabric, and means for severing said inserted lengths of yarn from the supplies.

5. A loom for weaving pile fabricswhich comprises means for weaving a fabric, a plurality of carriers containing supplies of pile yarn to be inserted in the fabric being woven to form pile tufts, means for advancing thecarriers successively toward the weaving point, means for drawing from said carriers in' a preliminary operation 1 lengths of yarn suitable to form tufts of the despool on which i sired height, said means operating on yarn in carriers approaching said weaving point, means for moving said carriers to cause them to. insert said lengths of yarn into the fabric, and means for severing said inserted lengths of yarn from the supplies thereof.

6. A loom for weaving pile fabrics, which comprises rneans for weaving a fabric. a plurality of carriers containing supplies of pile yarn to be inserted in the fabric being woven to form pile tufts, means for advancing the carriers successively toward the weaving point, means operating on the yarn in carriers on their way to and at a distance from the weaving point. for drawing lengths of'yarn from said carrierssuitable for producing tufts of the desired height, means for moving said carriers to cause the drawn ofi lengths of yarn to be inserted into the fabric, and means for severing said lengths from the supplies after insertion of said lengths.

'7. In a loom for weaving Axminster pile fabrics in which the pile yarn is periodically supplied to the weaving mechanism from yarnzcarriers carrying spools of, yarn and mounted upon endless chains, gripping means for drawing a predetermined amount of yarn from the carriers, means for moving the carriers to dip the drawn yarns into the warp shed of the loom, and means for severing the drawn yarns from the pile yarn in the carriers after said drawn yarns have been dipped into the warp shed.

8. A loom for weaving pile fabrics, which comprises weaving mechanism, a plurality of carriers for pile yarns, each carrier including a said pile yarns are wound, means for supporting and advancing the carriers successively to the weaving mechanism with a step by step movement, means disposed along the path of movement of said'carriers and remote from said weaving mechanism for gripping the ends -of yarns wound on a spool on a carrier and drawing off from said spool lengths of yarn sufficient for incorporation in the fabric to produce a pile, means for moving said carriers suc to the weaving mechanism, means along the path of movement'of said carriers and remote from said weaving mechanism for engaging the ends of yarn wound on the carrier spool and drawing lengths of yarn from the spool suflicient for incorporation in the fabric, said means including gripper jaws and mechanism for opening and closing said jaws and for moving said jaws toward and away from said carrier, means for lowering said carriers successively to the fabric to cause the lengths of yarn drawn from said spools to be inserted in the fabric, and means for severing said'inserted lengths of yarn from the yarn on said spool.

10. a loom for weaving pile fabrics, which comprises weaving mechanism, aplurality of carriers for pile yarn connected in an endless series,

means for advancing said carriers successively to the weaving mechanism, each carrier containing at least one spool on which the pile yarns are wound in accordance with the pattern to be produced, meansalong the path of travel of said carriers and remote from said weaving mechanism for engaging the ends of yarn wound on said spool and pulling out said ends to an extent determined by the length of the pile to 11'. A loom for weaving pile fabrics, which comprises weaving mechanism, a plurality of carriers for yarn to be incorporated in the fabric to produce a pile, means for supporting saidcarriers and advancing them successivelyto the weaving mechanism, means adjacent the mechanism for removing each carrier in turn from the supportlng and advancing means and presenting the carrier to the fabric to incorporate therein the ends of the yarn supplies in said carrier,

means along the path of travel for engaging the ends of yarn of the supplies on said carrier and:

drawing said ends from the supplies to expose lengths suitable for incorporation in the fabric,

said means functioning in association with a carrier mounted on the supporting and advancing means and means for severing the lengths of yarn inserted in the fabric fromthe supplies of yarn. i A i 12. In a loom, the combination of a plurality of carriers for pile yarn, means for supporting and advancing the carriers successively to a weav- HOWARD L. SHUTTLEWORTI-L' let-5 

